Government seen surviving confidence test

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's minority Conservative
government will face a confidence test in coming days but will
not be toppled, the leader of the opposition Liberal Party,
Stephane Dion, said on Wednesday.

The leftist New Democratic Party, the smallest of the
opposition parties in the House of Commons, will kick off
debate on Thursday on a motion expressing a loss of confidence
in the government over its "unbalanced economic agenda."

If the motion is passed, the government will fall. But that
is unlikely to happen as Dion's Liberals, the largest of the
opposition parties, have enough votes to keep the Conservatives
in office.

Dion told reporters he would not trigger an election on the
New Democrats motion.

The Liberals trail the Conservatives in most polls and have
been unwilling to chance an election. The Conservative won
power in January 2006 and a new vote is scheduled to be held in
October 2009 if the government is not defeated beforehand.